Adults Only

July 26, 2011

Richard Eskow

Today’s preferred political posture is that of “the adult in the room,” the one who’s prepared to compromise during negotiations. But there’s a little problem with that pose. By definition, it means that you’re compromising with children.

The adult in the room at a pre-school doesn’t strike a deal that says we’ll play outside instead of eating lunch or snacks. He or she knows that we need nutrition to stay healthy. The adult in the room wants the children to be happy, but if they’re not behaving he appeals to their parents. And in politics, he or she appeals to the voters.

Well, President Obama has finally gone over the Republicans’ heads to the voters, but he’s left out the “nutrition” our economy needs most: jobs. The Republicans keep claiming that jobs will magically appear if taxes are kept low, even though low taxes haven’t produced any jobs over the last 10 years. The President warned us Monday night that “our growing debt could cost us jobs.” But you know what really costs us jobs? Not spending money to give people jobs.

Not a single proposal on the table includes short-term spending for job creation. That spending would stimulate growth, after which policy makers could pivot and address our long-term debt issues. And they could do so with the added advantage of added revenue from millions of newly-employed Americans who are paying their federal income tax. But that’s off the table. So, too, are any new taxes, if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s proposal passes.

Who’s talking straight to the American people? Adults don’t condescend to other adults. They tell them the truth. Who’s telling the public that we must first fix the damage caused by the recession by putting people back to work? Who’s telling them that Washington understands their problems and wants to fix them?

And while we’re on the topic of “adults,” consider the “Super Congress” proposals that Reid and House Speaker John Boehner have both proposed. Under these proposals, “bipartisan” panels of Republicans and Democrats would propose a fixed-dollar amounts of spending cuts that would be fast-tracked to an up or down vote. Why have an unelected “Super Congress” make these decisions? Because politicians want to cut spending without being held accountable for it. They were elected to make decisions and take the consequences, and now they want to avoid both the decisions and the consequences.

Want to be the “adults in the room”? Then take responsibility, do your jobs, and face the consequences of your actions. That’s what adults do.

Let’s review the facts, shall we? Spending rose sharply because of George W. Bush’s new wars, and tax revenues declined dramatically because of his tax cuts. Then spending rose even more, and taxes fell even further, after a Great Recession caused by deregulation of Wall Street. It’s all here:

Yet Washington has come to a standstill as it fights over competing deficit plans,all of which fail to address our real problems. Polls show that voters prefer the solutions that would actually work. They want Washington to invest in job creation, tax the wealthy, cut military spending, and protect entitlements. Instead, all of the plans being debated in Washington would do the following: Continue the wars (although some of them assume drawdowns will continue), slash spending, preserve tax cuts for the wealthy, and fail to enact additional Wall Street regulations.

The President has signed on to the spending-cuts craze, and he’s joined the Republicans in pushing for cuts to entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare.. He repeated that message Monday night, saying “serious deficit reduction would still require us to tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform.” But Social Security doesn’t contribute to the deficit, and Medicare reform means cutting the for-profit abuses out of our health care system. So he’s not giving the public the straight talk it deserves, either.

Are we supposed to admire any of the combatants in this debate? We don’t live in Washington. We live in a world where unemployment is staggering,the economy is collapsing, and hope is dying. Nobody’s addressing our problems because they’re too busy addressing their problems. This may be the most narcissistic political debate in history.

In a grown-up world, politicians would be arguing over competing jobs plans. They’d each be boasting that their plan creates more jobs than the other guy’s. Sure, they’d mention the deficit – by telling us how quickly their plan would add jobs and stabilize the economy, thereby giving us the growth and revenue needed to address the deficit problem more effectively later on. Instead they’re arguing over who can cut more spending … and how to can do it without paying a political price.

An adult? For voters, that would be a refreshing change. They’ve waited a long time for some big-people talk. Somebody better tell our elected leaders there are more important things to do than play these re-election games. We’ve had record levels of unemployment for more than two years. The bell’s ringing, Washington, and that means means playtime is over. It’s time to come inside and listen to the American people

Blog Authors

Terrance Heath is the Online Producer at Campaign for America's Future. He has consulted on blogging and social media consultant for a number of organizations and agencies. He is a prominent activist on LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues.

Bill Scher is the Online Campaign Manager at Campaign for America's Future, and the executive editor of LiberalOasis.com. He is the author of Wait! Don't Move To Canada!: A Stay-and-Fight Strategy to Win Back America, a regular contributor to Bloggingheads.tv and host of the LiberalOasis Radio Show weekly podcast. He has opinion articles that have been published by the New York Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Omaha World-Herald, and has made appearances on CNN, MSNBC and NPR among other TV and radio outlets.

Dave has more than 20 years of technology industry experience. His earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. He was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. More recently he helped co-found a company developing desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.

Roger Hickey is Co-Director of the Campaign for America’s Future. He was also one of the founders of Health Care for America Now!, a coalition of over 1,000 national and local organizations united to achieve quality affordable health care for all. He was also one of the leaders of the successful campaign to stop the privatization of Social Security, called Americans United to Protect Social Security. Hickey was a founder and Communications Director of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank that looks at economics from the point of view of working Americans. He was also a founder of the Public Media Center in San Francisco. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Hickey began his career in the 1960s as an organizer for the Virginia Civil Rights Committee.

LeeAnn Hall is co-executive director of People's Action and People's Action Institute. A leader in social and racial justice organizing for more than 30 years, Hall has influenced and effected national reforms in health care, immigration policy, and fair pay. She has guided and inspired hundreds of young organizers into careers in social justice work. She was previously the founder and executive director of the Alliance for a Just Society. Hall lives in Seattle, Washington.

Isaiah J. Poole is communications director of People's Action, and has been the editor of OurFuture.org since 2007. Previously he worked for 25 years in mainstream media, most recently at Congressional Quarterly, where he covered congressional leadership and tracked major bills through Congress. Most of his journalism experience has been in Washington as both a reporter and an editor on topics ranging from presidential politics to pop culture. His work has put him at the front lines of ideological battles between progressives and conservatives. He also served as a founding member of the Washington Association of Black Journalists and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

Jeff Bryant is an Associate Fellow at Campaign for America's Future and the editor of the Education Opportunity Network website. Prior to joining OurFuture.org he was one of the principal writers for Open Left. He owns a marketing and communications consultancy in Chapel Hill, N.C. He has written extensively about public education policy.

Miles Mogulescu is an entertainment attorney/business affairs executive, producer, political activist and writer. Professionally, he is a former senior vice president at MGM. He has been a lifelong progressive since the age of 12 when his father helped raise money for Dr. Martin Luther King, who was a guest in his home several times. More recently, he organized a program on single payer healthcare at the Take Back America Conference, a 2-day conference on Money in Politics at UCLA Law School, and “Made in Cuba,” the largest exhibition of contemporary Cuban art ever held in Southern California. He co-produced and co-directed "Union Maids," a film about three women union organizers in Chicago in the 1930s and '40s, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

Robert L. Borosage is the founder and president of the Institute for America’s Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America’s Future. The organizations were launched by 100 prominent Americans to develop the policies, message and issue campaigns to help forge an enduring majority for progressive change in America.
Mr. Borosage writes widely on political, economic and national security issues. He is a Contributing Editor at The Nation magazine, and a regular blogger at The Huffington Post. His articles have appeared in The American Prospect, The Washington Post,Tthe New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He edits the Campaign’s Making Sense issues guides, and is co-editor of Taking Back America (with Katrina Vanden Heuvel) and The Next Agenda (with Roger Hickey).